NHL roundup: Flyers rally to top Rangers

Associated Press

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Posted Apr. 21, 2014 at 2:00 AM

Posted Apr. 21, 2014 at 2:00 AM

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Associated Press

NEW YORK — Luke Schenn scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, and backup Ray Emery made 31 saves for the Philadelphia Flyers, who rallied to beat the New York Rangers, 4-2, on Sunday to even the first-round playoff series.

Schenn put Philadelphia in front after Game 1 goat Jason Akeson tied it 2-2 earlier in the period. That was enough for the Flyers to snap a nine-game losing streak at Madison Square Garden and send the series to Philadelphia tied at one game apiece.

Game 3 is Tuesday night.

Jakub Voracek brought the Flyers within 2-1 in the first after Martin St. Louis and Benoit Pouliot staked New York to the early two-goal lead. Emery did the rest, looking especially sharp in the second and third periods while subbing for injured No. 1 goalie Steve Mason.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 21 shots after a 14-save winning effort in the opener. The Rangers had outscored the Flyers 35-10 during the winning streak and allowed two goals or fewer in each game.

The tide turned in the second period when the Flyers netted the tying and go-ahead goals despite being outshot 17-9.

Akeson tied it 5:45 in when he scored into the open left side off a rebound of Brayden Schenn's shot for his second career NHL goal.

It was a day of redemption for the 23-year-old Akeson, playing his fourth NHL game. His double high-sticking penalty in Game 1 led to two Rangers goals that turned a 1-1 game into a 3-1 deficit in the third period.

Philadelphia grabbed its second lead of the series with 8:42 left in the second during a delayed penalty. Michael Raffl brought the puck in on the right side and got it to Adam Hall for a shot. Luke Schenn then put in the rebound.

The Rangers' chance for a comeback was thwarted by a penalty for too many men with just 1:18 left in the game that led to Wayne Simmonds' empty-net goal with 25.4 seconds remaining.

Canadiens 3

Lightning 2

MONTREAL — Tomas Plekanec scored at 5:43 of the third period and the Montreal Canadiens moved one win away from advancing to the second round of NHL playoffs with a 3-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Montreal leads the best-of-seven series 3-0 and can sweep the Lightning with a win Tuesday night at the Bell Centre.

Rene Bourque scored 11 seconds into the game after a rousing pregame show and Brendan Gallagher also scored for Montreal. Ondrej Palat and Matthew Carle scored for Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay got a scare at 16:09 of the second period when scoring star Steven Stamkos fell and was struck in the head by Alexei Emelin's knee, but he returned for the third period.

And the Lightning were outraged when the officials waived off an apparent goal by Ryan Callahan at the 15:38 mark of the second because of Alex Killorn's incidental contact with goalie Carey Price.

Montreal outshot Tampa Bay 31-29.

After seeing Subban prevent what looked like a Tampa Bay goal by batting the puck out of the air in the crease and then having a Tampa goal disallowed, Subban put on a show by taking the puck around the net and passing to Gallagher at 18:10.

Plekanec added to the lead 5:43 into the third when he threaded a shot through from the right circle, but Carle got it back at 11:36 on a point shot that looked to deflect off a body in front of Price.